EXERCISES PAGE 559: WHAT THE THUNDER SAID

>> Underline examples of alliteration, repetition and onomatopoeia

ALLITERATION: "s" (lines 1-2-3) (line 23) (line 49) (line 58) (line 96), "w" (lines 7-8-9) (third scene) (lines 60-61), "o" (lines-10-11-12) (lines 63-64), "m" (line 47), "ho" (line 48)

REPETITION: after (lines 1-2-3), who-living-now (7-8), rock-water-mountain (second scene), drip drop (line 37), who-when-always (third scene), co co rico (line 64), or (lines 78-79), key (lines 82-84-85), falling down (line 97), swallow (line 99), shantih (line 104)

ONOMATOPEIA: drip drop (line 37), co co rico (line 64)

Comprehension

>> Focus on the three themes of the section, as explained in the introduction. Find references to them in the text

THE JOURNEY OF CHRIST'S DISCIPLES TO EMMAUS AFTER THE RESURRECTION: "Who is the third who walks always besides you?" (third scene).

THE APPROACH TO THE CHAPEL PERILOUS IN THE HOLY GRAIL LEGEND: "There is the empty chapel, only the wind's home" (fifth scene).

THE PRESENT DECAY OF EASTERN EUROPE: " What is that sound high in the air?" (fourth scene).

>> Circle all the images associated with sterility

Stony places (line 3),rock (line 10), sandy road (line 11), dry sterile thunder without rain (line 21), dry grass (line 34), no water (line 38), cracked earth (line 49), dry bones (line 62), Ganga was sunken, and the limp leaves (line 66), arid plain (line 95)

Interpretation

>> What is the Thunder's advice?

The Thunder's advice is "DA". It can have three different interpretations:
1. To give alms
2. To have compassion
3. To practice self-control

>> What do you think "these fragments" are?

I think that "these fragments" refers to the expressions taken from other literary works, which are used as support to show the world's decay.

>> The journey has come to an end. What final message is conveyed in the concluding lines? Why do you think the last words are in Sanskrit?

In the concluding lines Eliot invites the reader to the interior peace (Shantih), which can be achieved through nearness with God.
I think that the last words are in Sanskrit to create a link to an Upanishad (Hindu holy book).

>> What is your reaction to Eliot's experimental poetry and the mass of notes you need (or don't need) in order to understand it?
My reaction to Eliot's experimental poetry was disorientation, because links among the scenes are difficult to understand. Notes added to the text were necessary to clarify the meaning of the poem.

>> Eliot wrote that modern poetry must be difficult, as he himself explained. What causes obscurity in Eliot's poetry?

I think that in Eliot's poetry obscurity is given by intertextuality and juxtaposition of scenes.

>> Read how Virginia Woolf described her own experience of reading Eliot. What does she underlines of Eliot's style?

She underlines that Eliot makes a dizzy and dangerous leap to the next, and so on from line to line, like an acrobat flying precariously from bar to bar.

>> In what ways are the modernists Eliot, Woolf and Joyce similar?

Eliot, Woolf and Joyce are similar in using: the juxtaposition of the scenes, no chronological order, metaphors, alliteration, repetitions... and in evoking characters' memories.